


Accounting for All Variables

by spicy_diamond



Category: Hakuouki
Genre: F/M, mild blood play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-24
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-22 06:19:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/606744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spicy_diamond/pseuds/spicy_diamond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she'd agreed to aid in searching for a solution to the Rasetsu blood lust, this wasn't what she'd had in mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Accounting for All Variables

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mippa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mippa/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide (Madness ) 2012!

It had been a long, quiet, uneventful night. The serenity of the peaceful quarter moon broken only by the distant sounds of soldiers patrolling the temple and Chizuru could feel the insistent tug of fatigue beginning to set in. Legs having long gone numb with the discomfort that came from sitting in place for too long, she shifted uncomfortably in place. Then, drew herself up straighter in an effort to keep herself awake through shear determination.

She was thwarted by a wide yawn.

“I do apologize, Yukimura-kun. I hadn't meant to keep you waiting so long.”

“Ah... no. It's quite all right. Really.” Sannan hadn't turned away from his vigil at the wide array of beakers, crimson contents bubbling faintly in the candlelight, but Chizuru hastily covered her yawn all the same. “I'm more than happy to help.”

He made a soft sound that might have been a laugh at her rapid babbling, setting down the materials he'd been monitoring, and turned. Readjusting his position on his zabuton, he gave his experiments one last watchful glance before treating her to a polite smile.

“And I am more than happy to accept said help.” He returned evenly. “Truly. I hadn't expected you to offer yourself. Your cooperation has been... a rare turn of fortune in a series of unsettling events.”

Chizuru looked down, her hands fisting in the fabric of her hakama.

She had seen now, many times, the negative effects Rasetsu blood lust. The terrifying monsters her father's horrible medicine had created. And the things it did to the men she had come to consider dear to her.

If there was a way to change that...

“It does make me regret that we had not met you sooner...” He twisted his lips wryly as she blinked up at him in surprise. “Your father's journals were quite cryptic at points.”

That drew a small laugh. “Father does have rather messy handwriting.”

“So I'd noticed.” His eyes crinkled in amusement. “And I must admit my work space has never been tidier.”

Sannan lifted a hand to indicate the room around them, gesturing loosely towards the stacks of neatened paperwork, shelved journals, and washed glassware.

“...It's the least I can do.” Chizuru shook her head modestly.

There was little she could do to help with the actual experiments, after all. While she could read her father's writing well enough, she didn't have the head for the complex formulas he had written. Nor could she deduce probable methods to bettering the elixir's side effects.

She had simply taken to cleaning the room during the long daylight hours while Sannan slept as a way to rectify her uselessness.

“No. You've been a great help. It makes the experience of having an assistant most enjoyable.” He assured her lightly. “I daresay Hijikata-san missed out in not taking you as a page when he had the opportunity to.”

There was the soft hiss of liquids under pressure and he gave a glance back to the mixtures boiling on the low slung desk behind him. Then, brow creasing slightly at whatever change had occured, he turned. Gaze traveling calculatingly from one beaker to the next as he stirred, poured, and dampened burners with a fluidity that Chizuru couldn't hope to match. So called assistant or no.

“Of course.” One hand moved to adjust his glasses, lenses gleaming in the candlelight, as he grinned to himself. “His loss is my gain.”

Chizuru leaned forward, curiosity getting the better of her lingering sleepiness as she tried to get a look at the results. “Is it done?”

“Almost, but no.” He swirled a vial, a dark ruby liquid nearly opaque cling viscously to the sides. “This is merely the precipitate. The final ingredient has yet to be prepared.”

She stiffened.

“If you please, Yukimura-kun.”

“Ah, y-yes. Right away.” Hurriedly casting about the tatami beside her, and squeaking softly as limbs gone tingly nearly sent her face first to the floor, Chizuru moved to obey the request.

“No need to rush.” Chuckling faintly, he set the vial carefully back down in its rack before rising up to help her. “While I did request your presence here so as to ensure the best reaction, taking a few minutes more in between the process should make no difference.”

Sitting neatly in front of her, Sannan plucked the dagger she'd been searching for from the floor and pressed the hilt kindly to her hand.

“Slowly.” He encouraged her.

“Oh...” The sharkskin grip clung to her fingers. “Thank you.”

It hurt all the same, being cut with a knife. It didn't matter that she healed faster or that her skin would be left with nary a mark to mar it. And she winced in anticipation as she lined the blade up with the heel of her palm.

A laugh stopped her.

“Not so much.” Leaning closer, Sannan moved to grasp her hands. Drawing the blade away as he explained softly. “We won't need nearly that much. A few drops will suffice.”

Gently manipulating her grip on the knife, he adjusted her position to suit his needs. His fingers under hers as he guided her finger to the tip of the blade.

“See?” His voice was a low whisper in her ear as she flinched automatically. He set the knife neatly aside. “Just a prick.”

“Oh.” Her mouth opened slightly as she blinked at her bleeding fingertip in surprise.

It hadn't quite been as bad as she had expected.

“ _Still_...” The grip on her hands tightened. “It is a _waste_...”

She couldn't pull away.

“Sa-” He was close enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath on her fingertip, and her voice pitched uncomfortably. “Sannan-san?”

“I do wish I could discover what it is that makes your blood so special, Yukimura-kun. If it was merely a matter of blood, then the effects it should have on the Rasetsu thirst should be the same regardless of who it was from. But _your_ blood...” He flicked his tongue along the drops that had sprung from her finger, streaks of snowy white slowly rising up to engulf his hair. Behind the frames of his glasses, however, shining red eyes remained calm, clear, and free of madness as he studied her covetously. “The result of your heritage, perhaps? Or is it something simpler?”

His lips closed over her fingertip as he sucked gently, savoring the taste of her blood even as the cut began to heal. When the skin had gone smooth once more, he pulled away, listing variables in a low mutter against her palm

“Age? Birth sign? What year where you born in, Yukimura-kun? Or could it be a matter of your gender even?”

She bit her lip, shaking her head slowly. “I really don't...”

“ _...Your chastity?_ ”

“Ahh!” Cheeks heating to a bright flush, Chizuru's eyes widened further as his lips moved across the surface of her hand to rest at her wrist. Shaking her head in earnest as her pulse jumped, she tugged harder in an attempt to reclaim her hand. “ _Sannan-san!_ ”

“We can always experiment with that later, of course.” Smiling slightly against her skin, he slowly relinquished the grip he had on her appendage before straightening. His hair darkened back to it's natural brown even as his eyes kept the overbright red gleam of the Rasetsu. “It's important to take these things slowly after all.”

Touching a hand to her cheek, he brushed a thumb over her lips... where she'd bitten them hard enough to draw blood.

"W-wait!"She sucked in her breath as he drew in close, protesting faintly. “Sannan-san, the solution. We still need to add-”

“It can wait a few minutes more.”


End file.
